Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
ICID

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #042

Recommended Posts

3-01.png.212412b4e3041e25e45769e7f25d20a1.png

(logo by @4MaTC)

 

ICID, what the hell is this now?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

  1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
  2. Post a review of whatever you play. There’s no required pacing, but most of us post a review once every 1-2 days.
  3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
  4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
  5. Be respectful. Good rule of thumb: making fun of a map is okay, making fun of the mapper is not.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. I also pull at least 5 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

Spoiler
  1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

  2. Commenting the source port and skill-level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.

  3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!

  4. As mentioned above, screenshots or videos are awesome. 

  5. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity. 

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1202931356_painelemental.gif.ecbe37ae1b2dcb9e97ce7a3d1ada6d6c.gif

  1. CYBOFUN2
  2. Altier 6 & Insanity
  3. Antras
  4. Just Another Generic Level 2
  5. Half-Assed

 

1076803717_adventurersscores.png.0acc1debc0f7115beaa942ebc12b114f.png

Spoiler

The Top 15 (out of 53):

 

1. @Roofi | 4810

2. @Sena | 2205

3. @LadyMistDragon | 1705

4. @Walter confetti | 1165

5. @ICID | 675

6. @Endless | 545

7. @smeghammer | 345

8. @Clippy | 280

9. @Biodegradable | 270

10. @LUISDooM | 235

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

Share this post


Link to post

Skull Hall by Dr Bombay aka Agent X aka AgX Vanilla Doom, SP, 1995, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn00.png etrn01.png etrn02.png etrn03.png

etrn04.png etrn05.png etrn06.png etrn07.png

etrn08.png etrn09.png etrn10.png etrn12.png

etrn13.png etrn14.png etrn15.png etrn16.png

etrn17.png etrn18.png 

A long, abstract and kind tedious map that started playing it yesterday and finished today made by this Dr Bombay guy that i'm pretty sure to have already played and reviewed a map from this author long ago, according to some reviewer in the idgames is a remake of a map with the same title, the text description is a pretty nice story about private marine Sparks (what a badass manly name, guys, other than John Matrix! Freaking private Twilight Sparks against the forces of Hell! This Winter! The blockbuster of 2022 is in your multiplex closer to you!) finding his... military doctor? Higher command? is a evil demon from hell, being trapped by him and being teleported in wacky UAC stations and trying save his beloved one from demons.

Interesting story... Too bad the only part more interesting in all of this is this story for me. The level itself is too cryptic to understand where you must go and what you must do, i found myself wandering for almost 20 minutes just find that the lift door that leads to the outdoor area also activates a lift that hides a important key to progress in the map, similar things happens all trough the place, a twisted techbase and hell that looks comes out from a primitive version of Amorphous Euphoria, cool stuff! I liked some of the lighting works as well, neat designing. There's also a big part of the map that includes a important item to progress in the map that is even only reachable by noclipping cheat! Technically not a bad map at all, but ruined by bad progression design.

 

CYBOFUN2.WAD by Jason Silvio a.k.a. The Eternal One Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1995 but uploaded in 2005, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn19.png etrn20.png

etrn21.png etrn22.png

etrn23.png etrn24.png

I thought to have played this wad before, but looks like I've played a map with a similar name. Now, this CYBOFUN2 (or CYNOFUN? The text doesn't known either) is a very small mapset in file size (48.1 kylobites zipped! And includes music lumps taken from Doom as well for new music!) by this dude that makes me think of this wild mental vision from his name, made of 6 very short but kind of sadistic 5 maps (MAP05 is a just a room filled with weapons) that uses a gimmick similar to Cyberdreams, but without the cyberdemons telefragging (real bad) and not having fun puzzles imo (bad). But overall, is a interesting relic from the past uploaded by... FunDuke, for a change from the usual Perseus and RL suspects.

Edited by Walter confetti

Share this post


Link to post

Lucifer's Spell by @pcorf, released in 2007. Played with LZDoom on Black Plague, this is an Heretic replacement for E1M1.

Status: Completed

 

Not only am I getting an Heretic map but also one created by longtime mapper Paul Corfiatis, a promising start in this new thread! This is Paul's second level for Heretic and it ended up being a fun one too.

 

You start in a large room with a few golems and gargoyles in it, there's also a pair of Necromancer Gauntlets and a tome of power. Early on you might wanna make use of the gauntlets to save wand ammos considering you won't immediatly acquire the Ethereal Crossbow. 

Spoiler

NcYkYhw.png

The starting room.

 

Before long you'll end up in an outdoor area and start getting pelted, from two directions, with fireballs from gargoyles. Their placement makes them a thorn in your side because, while you can hit them, you'll waste tons of ammos. Best to just dance through the rain of fireballs and grab that crossbow. Keep an ear to the ground, there is a secret somewhere that could help you quelling down one half of the gargoyles assault while giving you some extra tools to fight, it's worth seeking them out. Go in the next room, fend off an ambush (be sure to check the closet where they were hiding), press that switch and go grab that yellow key after fending off some Ophidians. Be sure to drop on that 2nd ToP on your way there and be careful on your way out of the yellow key room...

Spoiler

FVxZ6hM.png

The outdoor area before getting the yellow key.

 

To get the blue key you'll need to make your way around the room to flip 2 switches, if you've found most secrets, so far, you can probably skip the go around and immediatly flip the switch for the key + 3 quartz flasks, should you choose to do so. The last gauntlet has you go through a serie of simple corridors fighting golems, weredragons and eventually sabreclaws upon getting the green key. By now you have more than enough ammos to make quick work of them, alternatively you trusty staff can smack 'em dead. The last room doesn't pose much of a threat, like I said the map provide enough tools to handle most encounters, if you found said tools, so all there's left is the Iron Lich in the exit room and you're done!

Spoiler

O1fJWqq.png

The last room.

 

Overall, this was a very fun map! It easily takes the crown of best Heretic map so far in my random adventures reviews. The author did a good job at detailing the map with the stock textures, the early part of the map is the most challenging but once you go past the yellow door it calm down a bit, on the same account I feel the later half is weaker than the first half but it by no means mean I didn't enjoy it. I only missed one secret and I'm guessing it's the one that housed a dragon claw, which I didn't getm, but as usual you are rewarded well for seeking out those secrets. If you are in the mood for an Heretic map, play this one. It's well worth the time.

Share this post


Link to post

Well Slap me Silly Then by Der Teufel (1997)

GZDoom / UV / 100% kills / 100% monsters

 

Hey, at least it's not dildo cybies this time, though the title might have given rise to wrong assumptions. Well Slap me Silly Then is really nothing more than the first Doom map made by a 15 year old programmer from Sweden. Pretty impressive string of achievements, if you ask me - programming at that age, and being born in a country that isn't 100% a latrine. 

 

Now, on to the map. What can I say... it's actually not that terrible, for a first map. The lighting is flat and the textures very uniform - which, in my book, is much better than a clownsuit of textures thrown at random. The map actually has sort of a gimmick (the corners of each room lower and reveal resources and enemies when activated by linedefs of switches) which the map relies a lot upon, and a key trap (something you don't see every day), so the action is not entirely lacking. Der Teufel is also nice enough to include an inescapable, sky textured death pit - we're clearly kindred souls when it comes to mapping. The adventure still is fairly easy, the only real danger coming (as it often happens in this kind of maps) from unfairly placed hitscanners, combined with no armor.

 

Maybe some would say this is your typical 90s fare, but how can you hate a mapper than goes as far as including a premade batch file?


 

Spoiler

 

image.png

 

image.png

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Crestfallen (1998) by Martin Friberg (Eternity)

 

A map which calls itself influenced by Malcolm Sailor's Chord. That series probably had a touch more purpose applied to every map than this but that doesn't mean this bad, quite far from it. Although the only way I could think of to take care of the Imps at the beginning was to punch them from behind one of the unlowered switches each leading to a hall with a portal, each of which leads to some curious locations. After punching a pair of each of Hell Kngiths and Revenants. One hall leads to a plasma rifle that you might want to be a little bit careful of along woth a Hell Knight Baron pair while another one leads past this curious industrial teleportation structure back to the central hallway and a hidden SS lowered for the taking! You then have to deal with more Imps and fucking Lost Souls because of course. The other hallway there leads to what looks suspiciously like bleachers when you turn around? But you should because you'll get a rocket launcher and chaingun when the floor here lowers but also a pair of Mancubi you may not want to spend all your available rockets on. Coming here opens the final portal across from here in the main hallway which leads to some sort of metal structure with an Arch-vile who then proceeds to teleport on to the main area to to resurrect everything that's there. Hope you saved your cells, but the exit will have opened so go ahead and rrin there. Not really my kind of map exactly but strangely cool detail regardless of the color scheme's overall dullness. The traps were pretty nice though 7/10

 

Spoiler

1mJC3XB.png

Edited by LadyMistDragon

Share this post


Link to post

UAC Chronological Academy by codyvangogh (2020)

 

Text file says "Boom" in "Advanced engine needed" so I loaded it up in Eternity - unfortunately all textures were missing. I had another look at the text file and it says "None" in "Other files required" but "LZDoom" in "Tested with"... I loaded up the WAD in SLADE and it turned out that it contains a TEXTURE1 lump that contains 3 new textures but no original textures. I didn't want to fiddle with the WAD to fix it so I ended up playing in GZDoom instead. I selected UV as difficulty. I thought I'm in for a beginner map...

 

I didn't expect I was in for an hour-long journey in one of the most original Doom WADs I have ever played!

 

The map plays on the concept of time travel which I've never seen in a Doom WAD before.
You visit the same location at three different epochs - one is in the past, another one is in the present and another one in the future. There is a time machine you can use to travel between them. It is really cool as you recognize the same locations but they look different at each moment in time.
The map is full of doomcute and lots of detail using almost only stock Doom textures (except three custom ones).
The gameplay leans on the easier side - I enjoyed it and I died a few times but more veteran players might find it a bit too easy. There are some clever ambushes here and there and some of the fights were interesting. Where the map shines though is exploration of the detailed world full of doomcute.
There is one moment that I would qualify as a light "puzzle" that is needed for progression and it's pretty early on (and took me a while to figure out and the fact that the map is pretty nonlinear at the beginning didn't help). I was quite disoriented at first, not sure where to go, but once I got the idea on how areas are connected together (in both space and time!), progression was quite straightforward.

 

I searched for author's name on idgames and it looks that this is the only map they submitted to the archives.
It's a very high quality map and you can see that a lot of effort has been put into it. Not sure if it's the first map they made because it's a very solid map but you can kind of see that they don't really follow all "doom mapping idioms" so to say but in a very positive way. It's really great as it's a fresh take on Doom and I think that the result here is very good. It's a pity the WAD has been submitted with this broken TEXTURE1 lump as this can put off some players that don't want to play in GZDoom and the WAD is really worth at least having a look at. It's not yet another techbase or yet another standard hell map. This is a very special WAD which I really recommend to check out! I think it proves that this thread is a good idea and that you can really find some hidden gems - and I got lucky this time :)

 

I recorded a video of my playthrough. It's the first time I recorded a video with commentary and I'm not a native English speaker so - you have been warned ;) Sorry for my accent and my sighing voice in the video :) I definitely need to work on that as I think I sound as if I was bored to hell but that was not the case :) I've chosen ER/IWA for my debut in this as I wanted to gain a little bit of experience when playing a random map before I submit a video for a mapper that actually cares about my playthrough :) I didn't know I will end up playing such an interesting map!

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Altier 6 & Insanity by Keith Hickman - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 1997, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn00.png etrn01.png etrn02.png etrn03.png

etrn04.png etrn05.png etrn06.png etrn07.png

etrn08.png etrn09.png etrn10.png etrn13.png

etrn14.png etrn15.png etrn16.png etrn17.png

etrn18.png 

 

Two pretty challenging maps made by one of the authors of Squadron 417, a very fun old time proto-slaughter megawad that precedes even hell Revealed by one year. These maps in particular have lots of common with Squadron 417 (using the sky from XENO11 and many early 90s sounds effects and music, a basic but good looking layout) and being MAP01 sets in the city of Altier 6 that includes a bank, a theatre, a techbase similar to entryway, a bar and many other stuff. Gameplay is pretty challenging with the less fun part with the backtracking parts, it's also heavily based upon exploration. The second map is just a small techbase that includes a icon of sin, blast romero head and the game it's over. Also a screenshot of this map has been used as intermission screen. Overall, a very good couple of maps!

Share this post


Link to post

Month 12 Day 11

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] 11 Years Of Doom by Darren "Doom_Dude" Finch @Doom_Dude (2005)

 

No screenshot sorry. I forgot to launch the software for taking screens.

 

Quote

A level designed around and within the words 11 YEARS OF DOOM

 

In order to celebrate your 11 years of service, Doom_Dude sent you in a huge factory in order to clean it from its monsters. What an unpleasant treat isn't it?

 

This limit-removing level replaces map 02 and the stock midi fits it like a glove. Playing this map felt more like a relaxing stroll than an adventure. Indeed, whereas this level contains more than 200 monsters, the monster is low so you'll fight more than 10 monsters at once in few occasions. Moreover, 11 years of Doom doesn't feature elaborated traps. I thought the combats were monotonous but the redundancy accorded well with the laid-back atmosphere of this map.

 

The fact that Darren didn't want to bother the player with booby traps and nasty monster placements was blatant. Even the cyberdemon's fight can be cheesed by hiding behind one of the several windows. It's always satisfying when you can take advantage like that.

 

I was also fond of the aesthetics of this map. Doom_Dude used the textures in a smooth way and the custom ones blend well with the stock ones. Above all, the spaciousness of the layout ensures a great fluidity in terms of progression. Despite the use of limit-removing format, details weren't so abundant but that was also why the level felt so polished.

 

At the end, 11 years of Doom was a competent and easy to digest kind of birthday map.

 

Grade : A-

 

[2] Piggy with a view. by Kirk Yokomizo (1995)

 

Spoiler

PENi7te.png
MMyq1tm.png

 

Quote

Here it is! The lastest edition of the Piggy series. With this version of the Piggy series I hoped to take care of some of the cheapness that has been taking place in all the other piggy wads. Not so much in 3+ player modes, but mostly in 1-on-1 matches. This problem was solved with the windows to catch some of the hiding out in the large rooms. All the classic piggy features are included of course, the wood textures in the halls, the BFG room, and of course the arenas with the quick stair weapons. The wad is really cool in 4 player mode free for all or 2-on-2. 1-on-1 matches are finally fair for a change! This wad can be used for acurate skill testing as well. Enjoy! Next in the series is on its way ;).

 

Piggy is just a sloppy tiny DM map made of few rooms with a very inconsistent texturing. What to expect from a map in 15 minutes? Anyway, maybe it's fun for 5 minutes I guess.

 

A zombieman in the dark removed my last 4 hp in Absolutely Killed

 

Spoiler

rDEjTjS.png

Share this post


Link to post

Might be taking a little break after today, getting a bit burnt out on 90s gameplay and I still have the last two maps of Sunder to get through.

 

 

 

Desert Horror by Eye del Cul (2003)

GZDoom / UV / 100% kills / 100% secrets

 

 

The winning entry of some kind of prehistoric mapping tournament, Eye del Cul describes Desert Horror as their 'biggest level' so far and, while I am not familiar with their work, I'd have to agree the map is rather expansive, especially for its time. Not only that, but it's also a fairly complex piece, both in layout and tricks used - including a 3d elevator, which I had actually never seen before outside of GZDoom maps. Good lighting, progression is rather cryptic with lots of switch hunting but that's not a huge flaw.

It's the combat that I'm not really sold on. First of all, Nazis are used, and they look painfully out of place in the overall rather brown techbase vibe we've got going. Then, mobs placement is occasionally a bit lazy, with a high density of hitscanners behind every door and no armor in sight. There are a few surprises, such as a few optional areas with extra weaponry, but overall this visually impressive map still carries on with the hitscan hell trend that was pretty much B-tier 90s mapping.

Not exactly forgettable, but not really memorable either. An above average, competent map. 

 


 

Spoiler

 

image.png

 

image.png

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Antras - means "the second" by Donatas TamonisVanilla Doom 2, SP, 1997, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn11.png etrn12.png etrn19.png etrn20.png

etrn21.png etrn22.png etrn23.png etrn24.png

etrn25.png etrn26.png etrn27.png etrn28.png

etrn29.png etrn30.png 

A small mapset consisting of 3 maps (played the first two, started the last one) made by this Lithuanian (?) guy and, boy this things reeks 90s from every inch of it's virtual construction! 70s rock? Check. A midi rendition of U-96 Das Boot? Check. Mandatory secret rooms that hides important object for proceeding in the map? Check. Wacky textures and pictures made with paint or something slightly advanced? Check. Mandatory backtracking? Check. Normal wall textures used as doors? All the suspects are right here, fantastic! *clapping noises* And since everybody's here it's time to talk about the maps one by one, as usual:

 

MAP01: A pretty average starting room with a lovely ceiling grid detail at the starting area, a pitch black room that doesn't light up when you enter in it but instead activating a switch in a pit below, a mandatory semi-hidden corridor with the blue key in another pitch black corridors hub and sort of clunky progression. The locked keys puzzle and the music choice (that i'm pretty sure to have already heard it) are the other best parts of this map. Difficulty is pretty easy, with some moderate peaks given by sparce usage of some solitary chaingunners here and there.

 

MAP02: This one doesn't really get me that much. Annoying music choice (really!) and the previous mistakes that i mentioned above are here with more stuff like a Stronghold style corridor full of monsters that comes out from their closets at your passage and a completely skippable fight in the yellow key arena, luckily this map is more cleaner and easier to understand where to go instead of my previously played Skull Island, at last. Just a slightly average map. Oh, and the blue skull room is really neat as well as some room designing, that's a point at favor of this map!

 

I didn't made any jokes about the "tree-level wad" because it was already used by one of the anonymous reviewers in the page lol

Share this post


Link to post

UAC Interstellar: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/interstellar

 

A map from this year, that is possibly a bit ambitious for its own good. It certainly looks great, and its atmosphere is something to behold, and once you get settled in, the gameplay exemplifies "tough, but fair". However, as it expanded, I found it increasingly more convoluted just to get where I wanted to, it's a level that could have possibly been improved by being divided into 2 or 3 shorter ones to keep the pacing more fresh. There was a lot of down time that came from the very interconnected layout, and it is certainly a level that looks nice enough that I don't entirely mind getting lost in it, but even still, its positive elements more than make up for any shortcomings. 7/10.

l3GWC0P.png

Share this post


Link to post
8 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

made by this Lithuanian (?) guy

Can confirm, this is indeed Lithuanian name and surname. Apparently he did speedruns of various levels according to doomwiki.org page too. Source - I'm from the same country as this mapper and speedrunner.

Share this post


Link to post

Month 12 Day 12

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] bfgdemo.zip by I can't tell you (1997)

Spoiler

gC0kSsm.png

Quote

This is to demonstrate the BFG Level 1 strafe trick.

 

It's a test map so it has no gameplay (You can still end the level by the way by killing the IOS). The file contains two demos too , in order to show you how the "trick" works. I wrote trick between quotation marks because it's so basic that any player who played few wads already know it.

 

About the map itself, it consists just to a u-shaped crampy corridor. Nothing worthy.

 

[2] Lithubristics Under Sanguine Twilight by Leon "Pasokon Deacon" Staton @PasokonDeacon (2022)

 

Spoiler

PZyq2Qs.png
r9Mkiog.png
0JVkiEq.png
2iNaUhE.png
POqVjvH.png
bf7ir0a.png
TAmJfIH.png
qUu74z0.png
BNnHfqF.png

 

Quote

PASOLUST.WAD is my first full foray into Doom mapping.

 

Lithubristics Under Sanguine Twilight (abreviated L.U.S.T) wasn't a total discovery to me. I played a small part of it when it was released because the screenshots caught my attention. I didn't went far because of my lazyness but I catched up. I beat this map in 48 minutes and 55 secondes so I warn you : it's massive and elaborate !

 

So, you land in a damaged eccentric tech-base where no room has regular shape and ton of teleportation pads upholster the floors. More than 500 enemies populate this unorthodox factory and your goal consists to find 3 keys in order to reach the final arena.

 

The most striking aspect you'll notice in this the level will be the extremly sloppy texturing which represents a common feature in first baby maps. However, L.U.S.T offers so much detailed places to explore with a complex architecture than it stands out among all the newbies maps I played. The level of detail is astonishing for a first map and all the interconnections make the level fascinating to explore, even if I was sometimes annoyed by the bumpy floors caused by all the teleportations pads , or the strange fetish that Pasokon has with surprise crushers. If you try obtaining the chainsaw, it will trigger a fast crusher above your head. Not nice.

 

Anyway, while being a modern map, L.U.S.T reminds me of a typical map from the 90's but with a ton of details and a higher difficulty. Lifts sometimes don't look like lifts, doors don't ressemble to a door or random sectors move up and down without particular reason. L.U.S.T seems to be a jumble of random ideas put together but that's why I loved this map. L.U.S.T looks at the same time an archetypal first baby map and a magnum opus which deserves to be played.

 

The combats were interesting too because the ennemies take profit of the messy layout and all the detailing prevent the player to advance with confidence. I think my favourite part was the big fight involving the static cyberdemon in the giant dark cavern. I unfortunately forgot to take the Plasma gun but it was still fun to see all the ennemies infighting though.

 

More generally, whereas most of the map takes place in a tech-base, I really dig how the author built natural environments.

 

Concerning the format, lifts have various speeds and there're some translucent textures but L.U.S.T looks more like a limit-removing map in its excution.

 

Grade : A

 

I ran in front of an attacking mancubus in You better run. (Level 1) Leave'em alone. (Level 2) Clowds' Castle. (Level 3)

 

Spoiler

pwxPWGE.png

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Final part of the Antras mapset! Still used eternity 4.0.2 for playing.

Spoiler

etrn31.png etrn32.pngetrn00.png etrn01.png

etrn03.png etrn06.pngetrn07.png etrn08.png

etrn09.png 

 

MAP03: Final map of this small mapset and the most ambitious one, including invisible blocking floors, mid-texture doors, (sort of) room over room effect (like in Industrial Zone wooden yellow key building), lowering stairs at your passage and deep water. Unluckily this map carries all the problems from the previous maps, including a pulsing light blue cave maze and the worst thing of all: this map DON'T HAVE ANY KEYS! I'm not joking! At least, i didn't find them, they must be hidden very well in the map, i guess. A pretty tedious mapset with some cool small decorations elements that doesn't save this mapset from the oblivion of idgames archives it was hidden until today.

 

JAGL2 (Just Another Generic Level 2) by @ShamanZT - Vanilla (?) Doom 2, SP, 2017, played with Eternity Forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn04.png etrn05.png etrn10.png

etrn11.png etrn12.png etrn13.png

etrn14.png etrn15.png etrn16.png

Moving forward of 20 years in the future from the previous wad for playing this pretty competent first effort at mapping by this Russian guy and when Russia and Doom are together, it always mean a certain type of quality! Well, not so much in these rumbling days but i digress. The level is just a pretty basic techbase based upon Episode 1 of Doom and Doom 2 with a good layout, lots of small charming detailing, a very good final battle structure sets in this arena where you can battle monsters by releasing from their vats or simply kill them in there by using a semi-hidden teleport near it and interesting puzzle switching. Pretty fun experience!

 

Half-Assed by Alek... (what is the name of this guy?)... @AlektorophobiA - Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 2013 but uploaded in 2015, played with Eternity Forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn00.png etrn01.png

etrn06.png etrn07.png

And luckily the author said this map it's Half-Assed! If this is the Half-Assed map, i wonder what kind of wonders are the well done maps!

A pretty good in it's basic simplicity map made for testing vanilla limits and made in short time possible, is a small interconnected tech outpost turning into a hellish fortress and floating in the middle of a red frightening sky, i can say it was pretty competent (expect for a pair of minor things like the GSTONE tower that i thought it could have used all the same type of textures, or the vine ones or the ones without it, simple. Also the blood falls cross isn't really elegant, but that's a not really huge problem, i see worse) map both in layout, detailing and gameplay departments. Not many monsters but very fun map. The best of the bunch this week!

 

Demon House: Lost Warpgate by Ioan Chera "Ebon" Vanilla Doom, SP, 2003 but uploaded in 2005, played with Eternity Forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn08.png etrn09.png

etrn17.png etrn18.png

etrn19.png etrn21.png

Another first effort map and short (well, not so short) map for Doom made by this Romanian guy sets in this little Antarctic UAC outpost where somebody opens another portal to hell, how classy. The level is short and a have a very small number of enemies, but unluckily have a bad case of cryptic progression in a maze. And seeing how this maze is the easiest maze i've seen in these days, this pretty sucks. The detailing is well done, even including a fake deep water effect in the nukage maze. The new graphics felts extremely 90s with their raw quality, especially the sky. Gameplay is ok, expecting for the cryptic progression mentioned before. A ok first effort map, overall. 

Edited by Walter confetti

Share this post


Link to post

You know, screw it. Who needs breaks when you got Demerol.

 

 

Phil's Infested Compound by @Philnemba

GZDoom / UV / 100% kills / 100% monsters

 

I must admit I'm not much of a fan of the Plutonia formula and its various derivatives (from the mediocre Cydonia, to the even more flatline Plutonia 2), both visually and combat wise - I always found TNT to be the better half of Final Doom. Still, Plutonia it is this time around, and we actually have what seems to be a Plutonia Revisited reject. A very high quality one I must add, though I also must admit it does play a little too close to the original megawad's MAP17, 'Compound'. One room in particular will certainly fill the player with a sense of deja vu, as it's a literal carbon copy of the original

Still, if you're unconcerned with such trifles, and you happen to bask in Plutoniaesque chaingunner obsessions, you will certainly have lots of fun. There are almost slaughtery moments here and there, with a BFG-driven bony encounter, and a host of imps meant to support an AV who, exactly because of those imps, turned out to be rather toothless. There are a little too many hitscanners for my taste, but you get a RL fairly early in the level and, once you acquire it, it's a plesant cruise through swathes of demon meat. The visuals are not stellar but more than serviceable, sticking close to the Casali's signature blocky architecture. 

Good level overall. 

 

Spoiler

image.png

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Sapphire - Orbital Research: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/sapphire

uakZ5nF.png

Another long ass level, and it comes with plenty of bells and whistles. Animated skyboxes, more detailed death animations, and blood around your screen at low health, which might work in Call of Duty when you're only at low health for 5 seconds at a time, but it's a lot less fun trying to find a healthkit when your vision goes dark every other heartbeat. Apart from that, while it is clearly technically advanced, its structure feels very basic and formulaic, it does little to break from the typical techbase format, and once you've cleared the first 2 rooms, you've seen all it has to offer. Enter a room, kill some stuff inside, reach the end and kill the enemies that teleport behind you as you do, repeat for 30 minutes. The level certainly looks good, but its gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, and by the halfway point it started feeling more tedious than exciting, and pretty much an exemplification of what's wrong with trying to substitute interesting gameplay by putting in a lot of visual effects. 6/10.

2bHkO8c.pngohFFFtf.png

Share this post


Link to post
On 9/21/2022 at 3:45 PM, Walter confetti said:

Antras - means "the second" by Donatas TamonisVanilla Doom 2, SP, 1997, played with Eternity "forseti" 4.0.2

  Reveal hidden contents

etrn11.png etrn12.png etrn19.png etrn20.png

etrn21.png etrn22.png etrn23.png etrn24.png

etrn25.png etrn26.png etrn27.png etrn28.png

etrn29.png etrn30.png 

A small mapset consisting of 3 maps (played the first two, started the last one) made by this Lithuanian (?) guy and, boy this things reeks 90s from every inch of it's virtual construction! 70s rock? Check. A midi rendition of U-96 Das Boot? Check. Mandatory secret rooms that hides important object for proceeding in the map? Check. Wacky textures and pictures made with paint or something slightly advanced? Check. Mandatory backtracking? Check. Normal wall textures used as doors? All the suspects are right here, fantastic! *clapping noises* And since everybody's here it's time to talk about the maps one by one, as usual:

 

 

I played Trecias some months back too! It had many of the same flaws but might be better than this. At least there aren't exactly mandatory secrets, just a minor puzzle or two.

Share this post


Link to post

I decided to roll a random one myself for the first time instead of following ICID's list, and got something quite fun.

 

Valley of Saints 2013 by ETTiNGRiNDER (Heretic)

I've known of ETTiNGRiNDER recently from 2 more-or-less complete episode replacements for Heretic, Wrath of the Titans and Endquest. I haven't played the former yet but the latter was quite good, with good detailing and interesting architecture, and I had fun playing it. I had also played Coven, one of their first levels from 2012, which wasn't bad for a first map but was also relatively simple and plain. Valley of Saints is from a year later and it shows, it doesn't quite have the polish of Endquest but it's a huge improvement over Coven. Vanilla limits means there's some abstraction in the level design but the various features are quite recognizable, and there's a very nice sense of progression as you emerge from the starting cavern into the titular valley, and climb to the top to enter the chapel. There are also some really neat touches, such as stairs that get progressively but subtly lighter as you near the top, and the lighting in general is very well done. This gives the map a cinematic flair, but it doesn't interfere with the action or the flow of the map. Combat is not very difficult but is quite fun and there are a couple of surprises, and I appreciated the map for not using the more typical tricks like surprise-teleports or locked arenas. It was an enjoyable surprise overall.

 

Spoiler

eAWn2zb.png

 

Tq9Hv2j.png

 

8FDpl5z.png

 

4k7o8nD.png

 

Share this post


Link to post
6 hours ago, Sena said:

Sapphire - Orbital Research: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/sapphire

uakZ5nF.png

Another long ass level, and it comes with plenty of bells and whistles. Animated skyboxes, more detailed death animations, and blood around your screen at low health, which might work in Call of Duty when you're only at low health for 5 seconds at a time, but it's a lot less fun trying to find a healthkit when your vision goes dark every other heartbeat. Apart from that, while it is clearly technically advanced, its structure feels very basic and formulaic, it does little to break from the typical techbase format, and once you've cleared the first 2 rooms, you've seen all it has to offer. Enter a room, kill some stuff inside, reach the end and kill the enemies that teleport behind you as you do, repeat for 30 minutes. The level certainly looks good, but its gameplay leaves a lot to be desired, and by the halfway point it started feeling more tedious than exciting, and pretty much an exemplification of what's wrong with trying to substitute interesting gameplay by putting in a lot of visual effects. 6/10.

2bHkO8c.pngohFFFtf.png

 

What a shame. Been aching for some good Valhalla / Warphouse style maps lately, shots had me excited for a sec.

Share this post


Link to post

Within the Bowels of Hell (1995)

 

Hot damn, an early 90s map that has aged better than most. While it has some old node errors, a weird broken wall glitch and some unmarked secrets oversight, it is still a reasonably well-made map with some curious level progression. It's not much to look at, but it's a solid Dooming experience that outshines a lot of early 90s maps I've played. A real diamond in the rough given how old it really is. Doomkid came along for the ride and was impressed enough with it that he plans on adding it to his Big Vanilla WAD Pack.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Urban Escape by James @Phobus Cresswell Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 2017, played with Eternity Forseti 4.0.2

Spoiler

etrn23.png etrn24.png

etrn25.png etrn26.png

I played this long time ago, but never think to have reviewed it for good. It's a small but charming map set in a dark, gritty techbase for the first half and in a small destroyed town segment at the second half of the map and giving you a literal "Urban Escape" made for WildWeasel birthday, as the tittle said. Very good for a short speedmap in both layout, detail and gameplay departments.

Share this post


Link to post

The Hazard Variation by @Karthik, released in 2007. Played with DSDA DOOM on UV, this is an Ultimate DOOM replacement for E4M1.

Status: Completed

 

This map was originally created in 2003 and called "First Gate" for an incomplete project titled "The Ninth Gate", although over time the project's maps were released individually and going by the quality of this one I bet the others were just as good too.

 

You start in a hallway against some former human and immediatly you can see detailing at work and some decent lighting. Soon you'll be making it into the next room and it's a room you'll go through fairly often. The map is small, with about 2 large rooms but make excellent use of them.

Spoiler

13bjIu1.png

The starting area and yes, I got hit by that fireball because old person's reflex or something.

 

Most of the gameplay will revolve around switches and finding where to go next but thankfully the author made it super easy to find your way around. It's mostly back and forth between the two large areas, progressively unlocking each rooms around them until you can access the 2nd floor. Monsters are your usual mix of Imps, shotgunners and pinkies with the occasional cacodemon thrown in, as is the usual with Ult Doom. There's one or two instance of a trap where crossing a linedef raise the floor instantly with enemies appearing right in front of you.

Spoiler

RHIV1f4.png

One of the two big room.

Spoiler

fQ4vGE5.png

The other big room as seen from higher up.

 

The map is short with around 40-45 monsters but they're all very well used, the combat and gameplay flow remain solid for the entirety of the level. It's not difficult but it's not like WAD should always be difficult for the sake of it. If you're craving for a quick E4 themed map, give this one a try it's really fun and has me curious what the 8 other levels look like.

 

Bonus:

Spoiler

1hgs1Rc.png

A recent thread on Doomworld was a discussion on switches and indicating what they triggered. Once you press the switch a small column in the exit sector raise as to indicate you can leave. This technique is used by the author a few times throughout the map.

 

Share this post


Link to post

Beyond Horrible! (2008) by hardcore_gamer and guests (Eternity)

 

In a long-list of solid Doom 1 replacements, this is one of them! Ok, that's not quite as bad as it sounds. Despite that the visual sense seems to be quite frankly deemphasized to such a degree that I can't quite recommend it (Eternity has some odd issues that hurt the playability), the fact is that it actually plays quite well. Gameplay style is very much Doom 1, with no attempts to graft Doom II's gameplay onto a more limited monster roster (see Return to Hadron or Base Ganymede for the best examples on how that's done). Encounters are small, traps are well-timed and you occasionally get some opportunities to rocket groups, but it's nothing with serious challenge whatsoever. Also, pistol starts are possible but not advised.

 

That would be all good if it wasn't for the visuals. See, too much of this set, especially the first few maps is set in profound darkness, with some hint of green textures. Like it definitely feels like E2 if E2 was more corrupted, but there's too much green and the lowered-lighting doesn't really do the mediocre texture choices many favors. This improves in the more tech-y latter part, although there's still some quite annoying backtracking happening here that does nothing but annoy me. We're not exactly talking open-ended maps here either, so this gets incredibly annoying. Although I might be more forgiving when someone like @Borax Man does it with Decimate, these maps are just a little bit too-closed off to get away with BS like that.

 

Having said that though, the custom music replacement is always appreciated. Let's just get a little bit into some of the maps

 

Map 04: The first map by a guest mapper here, the predominant theme is quite overwhelmingly tech, despite the blatant Deimos Lab homage at the beginning. It also has a solidity of design few of hardcore_gamer's entries, other than maybe Map 06 and perhaps the next map, have. Encounters are well-staged, secrets make sense and there are some decently-constructed larger areas. Only the marble in a couple of areas (such as the end) remind you where you're at. (that's Venus, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing like this, just saying). Also, "Cerberon Rising" from Quake II just goes sooooo hard. It's much better than something like "shawn's got the shotgun!"

 

Map 05: Well, here's a hardcore_gamer map I kind of liked. Still lots of tight corridors but I really like the canyon at the end. It's like getting into a fortress! I also like the flesh corridor here

 

Map 09: The secret map, made by a guy who had been recently banned, and it might just be the best one. A vine-covered subway station leads to a series of light Doom 1 homages (apart from 1 that's clearly a shrunken version of Entryway) as well as a ridiculously obscure process to lowering some bars. And the outdoor stairs were just such a cool vista. Little hints of Doomcute round this one out but it might be a little big for some people. Hence why I say it might be the best one.

 

Map 06: The fortress! hardcore_gamer's best map here, this features among other locations, a vine-covered water tank and a fortification gazing out at a shrine. Only thing is that you'll be required to backtrack if you somehow don't leap onto a certain building.

 

Map 07: Great to drop the ball! Although pistol start is again more possible in these latter maps, lack of secrets and an aggressively blue aesthetic do this map no favors. And it's also easy to miss 1/4 of this map's monster count! I did like the little hand-drawn UAC logo and the desk guys though

 

Map 08: A floor of flesh and low-brick walls that you need to press switches to escape. Yeah, this is not good.

 

 

Maybe I shouldn't have spent so long on this, but keep in mind EWA is not necessarily a priority for me. Generally, I try to finish everything unless it's the most-cliched '94 crap imaginable (like Petra Verkakik Tribute Wad) or only playable through either a convoluted DosBox process or something like Russian Doom (Doom 2099). It's an easy 7/10, but it's a little on the inconsistent side.

 

 

Spoiler

i1urDFn.png

Spoiler

gwecdwI.png

Spoiler

HRdWmJ5.png

Spoiler

1YAf29k.png

Spoiler

Bb5XD6g.png

Spoiler

jnT3ytb.png

Spoiler

iXf1S6j.png

 

Edited by LadyMistDragon

Share this post


Link to post

VRACK3 by Fredrick Johansson (2003)

 

Spoiler

426851046_dsda-doom0_24.32022_09_2311_19_04PM.png.a365083e3fcfb0caae9c2439fc9e8dde.png770310062_dsda-doom0_24.32022_09_2311_50_39PM.png.3900b4c22ff2ba77cb50ba3bf1de484b.png

 

Well this is clearly a very high quality wad, and you can tell by the idgame reviews that people seem to enjoy it along with the other entries in the VRACK Series.

 

Personally however, I hated it. It looks good, and there are some nifty tricks, and cool graphics, like these animated mid textures I snapped. but the gameplay is awful. sloggy hitscan hell, you cannot tell where the hitscanners are, because there are so many nooks and crannies you seem to be endlessly exposed to and absolutely fuck all armor, the space is so cramped you are endlessly bumping into walls with barely any space to dodge.. Up until I found the secret backpack ammo was also a pain because the majority of the hitscanners are perched in places you cant get to, or only get to later. any meaningful fire power is withheld for way too long, it took me 20 minutes before I got the ssg which is triggers a trap where you are locked in a tiny space with three mancubi one of whom teleports behind you, I actually sequence broke this fight to beat it by running into the previous area immediately after getting the ssg to avoid the fight until the bars opened again and then came back and killed the mancubi. and then after that I couldn't figure out what to do, and I gave up. Looks incredible, plays absolutely garbage.

 

Can't believe this kind of cramped obnoxious gameplay is  enjoyed by anyone. I will certainly never play the other VRACK maps. 

 

5/10 and all 5 points go to visuals. 

Share this post


Link to post
9 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

Map 09: The secret map, made by a guy who had been recently banned

Wait, i was banned temporarily here with this username? Because, yeah that's my map. Glad you liked it. And yes, at the time i was banned from the forums for a very stupid mistake i did back then with that nickname...

Share this post


Link to post

Helium (2021) by @jacnowak (Eternity)

 

The name of the map looked awfully familiar, although it frankly looked a little deflated....but no, Mary Timony's Helium was a far more memorable band, probably because it's got some sweet keyboarding action. It's just strange that I only realized Jace existed when Radium was released (look for a little recommendation I did of it in the next upcoming issue of the Wadazine!).

 

But anyways....this is vanilla, but the room format isn't necessarily square. The predominant theme at first are beautiful crimson caves, but there are some brown walls and even a techbase section. Combat isn't too hard, but quite satisfying. And there is an Arch-vile or two just to keep you on your toes.

 

Exploring for secrets is the best part though. Falling into the lava like I did on my prior playthrough turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I found a berserk pack in addition to a rad suit. Teleporting around is kind of nice too. Unfortunately, the tech section is both a little boring and cramped (though I like the Arch-vile here) and I was killed by an especially nasty Revenant trap near a key. So maybe that's the best ambush of the map. I didn't particularly want to save though, but I do know the Arch-viles might take you by surprise. They are not really a huge threat necessarily.

 

But this is quite a solid map in all other ways though. 8/10, really just like the overall construction here, with enough spice inserted where it counts.

 

Spoiler

qnPyiET.png

 

Share this post


Link to post

High/Low 1 (2006)

 

Stumbled across an old map by the one and only @Chris Hansen and it does not disappoint. A gorgeous and twisted Doom 1 techbase with an emphasis on quirky level progression, tight corridors, solid texture work and heaps of monster closets and teleport ambushes to keep you on your toes. It's a classic Hansen map with all the trimmings to remind us young whippersnappers why he is one of the best of the best veteran mappers. Simple, elegant and damn good fun.

 

 

Edited by Biodegradable

Share this post


Link to post

Hung out with @Biodegradable and filmed EP 40 of my own personal ID games adventures

 

this is a good one if you want to see the ordeal of this endeavour - from finding something annoying to play, to full on broken - to having to find textures to run it - to searching through deathmatch crap

 

oy

 

exclusive pre release vid:

 

 

first

 

My First UAC Base : https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/a-c/bf-01

 

a newbie map who played with stealth monsters - almost everything was a stealth fucker and it made me mad so I went on a rant - stop abusing stealth monsters!!

 

second

 

Teleporter Station : https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/tstation

 

Not sure what is happening here but it's full on broken - if someone is bored can they have a look lol - wtf wouldn't load in GZ or DSDA - how is this on ID games? How did ppl play it before - why

 

finally got excited to find

 

Gothic 1 by Erik Alm

 

THE Eric Alm pre Scythe!

 

main event: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/d-f/eagoth1

 

This early map does not have the charm of Scythe - but it was fun to go back to an early mapper development - this map was hard as hell so I scummed my way through it - tight - under equipped and full of specific approaches to encounters - it's something alright lol - textures are fun and I liked most of all the surprise ending

 

all in all a rough go this ep - hard maps and hard to find things to play lol

 

This ID Games thing is wacky business

 

Share this post


Link to post
On 9/23/2022 at 11:49 PM, Walter confetti said:

Urban Escape by James @Phobus Cresswell Vanilla Doom 2, SP, 2017, played with Eternity Forseti 4.0.2

 

I played this map at least twice during my adventures ! Pretty cool small urban-themed level indeed.

 

Month 12 Day 13

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I died/stopped.

 

[1] Mansion Of Time by Lexus Alyus (2004)

 

Spoiler

A8i9k51.png
0hfRgnd.png
dZc7yG3.png
98e3pXi.png
pi3kcsj.png
3BDKJ2X.png
dn5Qt4O.png
JlZub0A.png
CvWP0wm.png
Auw0B2s.png
xmcvtVE.png
XiaUuLC.png
QIww34B.png

 

 

Quote

This wad was originally created for an ancient project called the 9th Gate. It has been about 5 years in the making and I finished this level like 3 years ago! (It took a long time, but I finally finished it and was pleased with it).

I've replayed the level today and I thought it would be a good idea to release it as I spent a lot of time on this and the 9th Gate is taking far too long to finish.

Here is one of my best levels... probably :D. I made this 3 years ago (after ROTGS... I think... not sure...). This is Also another of my rare Vanilla levels (has no special effects, relies on good gameplay to make the level good... Curunir should be pleased ;) ).

 

This limit-removing ultimate Doom map replaces E4M1 and takes profit of the orange sky. However, I had to launch it with gzdoom because of an error with subsectors. Mansion of Time contains a little more than 400 monsters and unfolds in a castle built with marble, wood, metal and some occasional tech textures such as a typical map from the fourth episode.

 

However, Lexus constructed an elaborated architecture. I have a favourite for the blue key's palace and the room filled with lava leading to the exit thanks to the pavillion-shaped ceilings. I also love the demolished marbled faces and the detailed rocky wastelands you have to go through. More generally, Mansion of Time is a medium-large map which features numerous places to explore. The multiple keyed doors of the same color add some non-linearity too.

 

Despite, the high monster count, Mansion of Time was a lot easier compared to the fourth episode of the IWAD. Indeed, Lexus floods you with more ammo and health than you need, so you don't have to adopt specific strategies to survive. You want to spare your cells and rockets? No problem, use your countless shells and bullets instead. Powerful ammo just help reducing the grind while defeating barons and cacodemons afterall. Combats turn out to be slaughterish/pseudo-slaughter but don't expect any elaborated traps such as a big arena. The author just filled the rooms with the available bestiary, except the cyberdemon and the spider-Mastermind.

 

Lexus is also a musician and he composed the music of that map. The sonority reminds me a lot of Heretic/Hexen games but with a metal tone. Some outdoors areas make me think of those games, especially the grey cavernous areas with the spikes.

 

At the end, Mansion of Time was very good find. Maybe , not the best UD level I've ever played but the abundance of ammo and the work brought to the aesthetics made the level pleasing to play.

 

Grade : A-

 

I fell in a wooden pit and an imp shredded me to death whereas I was still falling in Siawn Hy's Keep

 

Spoiler

5frTk3P.png

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×